A Conversation with Abigail Hopkins

By Coco

We always hear about meal prep, and how planning your meals at the beginning of the week can save you time and money and get you eating healthier. But when you get home at the end of the day, isn’t it tempting to dial your local pizza joint’s number? Abigail Hopkins, the founder of That Clean Life, might be able to stay your hand in making those calls. That Clean Life is a meal-planning service that takes all the thought out of the meal prep for you, so you don’t have to worry about trying to think of something delicious to make–you’ll already know what delicious thing you’re going to make. And it’s wholesome and healthy, to boot. Find the full interview in the video below!

Clean eating is not a diet. It’s not restrictive and it’s all about balance. It’s a lifestyle and an easy philosophy you can use to guide the way you choose what food to put in your body.

How did you get this idea of building a business around clean eating?

After years of struggling with my own weight and body image, the concept of eating clean really saved me. Clean eating had nothing to do with starving or depriving myself, but rather shifting my focus to whole foods.

When I started to shift my focus from all the food I “shouldn’t” be eating and instead focused on all the whole foods I could incorporate, magical things started to happen in my life. Not only did the extra weight start to fall off effortlessly, but I was more inspired, creative and energetic. I was less stressed. I started to become a better person to not only myself but everyone around me.

People started to notice the change in me and asked what I was doing differently, so I started to share recipes on my blog.

When I got asked to turn my recipes into a meal plan with a grocery list, I thought “why not” and recruited my husband to help me design my first e-book.

The e-books allowed us to collect feedback and also allowed us to validate the idea we had of turning the whole concept into a full-fledged meal planning platform.

We launched the That Clean Life meal planning platform in January 2015. Today we are a Toronto-based tech startup that is helping thousands of people eat clean and feel awesome.

What resources can you suggest for kickstarting a cleaner life?

That Clean Life → Recipes, meal plans, grocery lists, prep guides, a private support group and our bloghas everything you need to kickstart a more nourishing life.

Where do find the inspiration for your recipes?

Anywhere and everywhere! We have an awesome team (LeChing, Ashley and myself) working on recipe development at That Clean Life. Inspiration can come from our family dinners, an Instagram post or a trendy restaurant. We take meals that people love and remake them using whole foods so they can feel good about eating them all the time.

Any tips for “cleaning up” our favourite foods that we just can’t let go of, especially those comfort foods?